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Real Brokerage vs Compass: What Changes for an Agent
Updated
Bottom line: Real publishes one split, cap and fee schedule for every agent in a country. Compass publishes none: its filings say it keeps a share of each agent's gross commission plus fees such as flat transaction commission fees, with no amounts.
Alexis Ruiz-Ney, Partner, Jumpstart Partners · Concierge Director, Houston Properties TeamOr call (713) 425-4194.
What does each publish about what an agent pays?
Real publishes a fee schedule for every agent in the US and another for Canada, both last edited in August 2026. Compass does not publish one. Its quarterly report for June 2026 says Compass collects a share of the gross sales commissions its agents earn, plus certain other fees such as flat transaction commission fees, and its annual report for 2025 says its agents are independent contractors paid their commissions at the closing of a sale.
Neither Compass filing gives a split, a cap or a fee amount, so those cells in the table say so rather than carry an estimate. Real's column is its own US and Canadian schedules, its article on the post-cap fee, and its filing for the quarter ended June 2026.
| What is compared | Real | Compass |
|---|---|---|
| Split before the cap | 85/15 for every agent. | A share of each agent's gross commission. No figure published. |
| Yearly cap | $12,000 in the US and $15,000 in Canada. | None published. |
| Monthly fee | None. | None published. |
| Fees on each transaction | $50 in the US and $40 in Canada, for compliance and broker review. | Fees such as flat transaction commission fees. No amounts published. |
| Fee per deal after the cap | $285 a sale in the US and $375 in Canada, or 15% if that is less. | No cap is published, so no terms after one are either. |
| Revenue share | Five tiers, 5% down to 1% of a sponsored agent's gross commission, paid out of Real's 15%. | None described in its annual report for 2025 or its quarterly report for June 2026. |
| Stock | A purchase plan (5% of net commission before the cap, 10% after) and stock awards for capping and Elite status. | Its Agent Equity Program, which let agents take part of their commissions as restricted stock units, was discontinued in 2023. |
| Platform | reZEN, Real's own. | Home Platform, its own. It is available at its Compass-brand offices and to about 4,000 agents at its other brands, with the rest of its owned offices to follow in the second half of 2026. |
| Where it operates | All 50 US states, the District of Columbia and six Canadian provinces. | Before the Anywhere merger, 39 states and Washington D.C. under the Compass brand. |
| Agents | 35,348 at the end of June 2026. | About 37,000 at its owned offices before the merger, and more than 340,000 across its owned and franchised offices after it. |
What did the Anywhere merger add to Compass?
Compass completed its merger with Anywhere Real Estate on 9 January 2026. Its owned offices now trade mainly as @properties, Coldwell Banker, Compass, Corcoran and Sotheby's International Realty, and the franchise brands it took on include Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA and Sotheby's International Realty.
Compass owns the Coldwell Banker and Century 21 trademarks and holds the Sotheby's International Realty and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate brands under license. It says it does not control its franchisees day to day, and that they run their own relationships with their agents. Each of those four brands has its own comparison page in this section.
What changes for an agent who moves from Compass to Real?
Three things are written down at Real that Compass's filings leave out: the split, the cap and every fee. Real's are the same for every agent in a country, and its split is set in the Independent Contractor Agreement, where Real says it is not open to change at this time.
The system changes too. A Compass agent works in Home Platform, and a Real agent works in reZEN, where Real's help center says agents track their commission earnings for the year and their progress toward the cap.
Real also pays revenue share to the agent who sponsored you, out of its own 15%, and lets agents put part of each commission into shares. Compass's filings describe no revenue share, and say its agent stock program was discontinued in 2023.
Questions & answers
What else do agents in the US and Canada ask?
Does Compass publish its commission split or cap?
No. Compass's quarterly report for June 2026 says it keeps a share of the gross commissions its agents earn, plus other fees such as flat transaction commission fees, but it gives no split, cap or fee amount. Real publishes all three: an 85/15 split for every agent, a $12,000 cap in the US and a $15,000 cap in Canadian dollars in Canada.
What a Compass agent pays is in that agent's own agreement with Compass. Real's figures, with the month each was last edited, sit beside eXp Realty's on the page comparing Real Brokerage and eXp Realty side by side.
What changes for an agent who moves from Compass to Real?
The terms become published ones: Real's split, cap and fees are the same for every agent in a country. The system changes from Compass's Home Platform to Real's reZEN. And Real pays revenue share to the agent who sponsored you, out of its own 15%, where Compass's filings describe no revenue share program at all.
Your listings and pending deals are governed by your current agreement, and Real's own policy on them is set out on its own page. The steps of joining, from the application to the license transfer, are on the page about how to join Real, step by step.
Are Coldwell Banker and Sotheby's International Realty part of Compass now?
Yes. Compass completed its merger with Anywhere Real Estate on 9 January 2026. It owns the Coldwell Banker and Century 21 trademarks, holds Sotheby's International Realty and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate under license, and runs owned offices as @properties, Coldwell Banker, Compass, Corcoran and Sotheby's International Realty. It counts more than 340,000 real estate professionals across the network.
Compass says it does not control its franchisees day to day and that they manage their own relationships with their agents, so an agent at a franchised office should ask that office for its terms. What Real publishes, beside what Keller Williams publishes for its own franchised market centers, is on the page asking what Real Brokerage and Keller Williams each charge.
This page compares Real's published terms with what Compass's SEC filings say, as each read in the month shown, and it is not legal or tax advice. What Compass pays you is in your own agreement with Compass.